"'It’s like if you sleep eight hours, but it feels like you only got three,' he said.... Snezhana Kostornova, 31, a psychology student who was on Adderall until two months ago... turned on her bathroom sink to hand-wash clothes but got distracted when she went to get soap; she watered her plant; then she started browsing for curtains online until water sloshed over her feet.... Without Adderall, Edward DiNola, 35, a game programmer and designer in Orlando, has become almost nocturnal; his sleep schedule is piecemeal and unpredictable. After a week without medication, he went to bed one day at seven in the morning. 'It’s a bit of a curse to not have control over your own energy,' he said.... Having taken Adderall for the last 12 years, Natalie Rotstein, 24... [is] scared of blowing through a red light while driving through Los Angeles; at their neuroscience research job, they worry about forgetting to warn patients to take off jewelry before going into the MRI machine, which can cause skin burns."
From the top comments over there: "Let’s be clear. There is no Adderall shortage. There is an Adderall over prescription problem"/"If you feel more focused on Adderall it doesn't mean you have ADHD. EVERYONE FEELS MORE FOCUSED ON ADDERALL"/"Why not just say speed shortages? That's really what we're talking about. I would know, was on it for years. Would recommend anyone still using think about stopping, especially now could be easier when it is hard to get."
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43 comments:
Three generations of drugging boys in elementary and middle schools and now there's so many using it they can't keep up with production. Throw in a generation of newly diagnosed women with ADHD and we're in crisis mode.
Or we can just allow boys to be themselves, quit drugging them, and see what happens. They might even drag civilization, kicking and screaming, forward again.
Unless you have ADHD there is no legitimate use for this drug. I can see it being used for troops in combat but having it dispensed like candy is not a good idea. Are there any studies regarding the long term use for people who do not ADHD?
The comments are like reddit subs, the ADHD crowd or their mamas triggered by all the mean talk! And everyone with their collection of bougie maladies, ADHD, OCD, DID, BOD, CPTSD, PCOS, chronic lyme, genital warts...Lolol
Truth is I'm jealous I didn't get any chemical help with my schooling. Oh how I could have used some Adderall!
My parent had given me a diet pill on occasion for cramps and it was wonderful for school. But speed wasn't legally available for scatterbrained kids back then.
We've raised several generations of cripples. And we knew it as we were creating them; we were warned by the wiser among us.
The Bankman fried crime has seemingly exposed the issue that tech people take prescription speed to let them outperform those who don’t take it. How horrible is that! It’s hard for students to do class work, but now kids have to say, if I don’t take adderal I won’t be competitive on the curve and won’t get an A. Take speed before you take the sat.
It’s like being an intern to a politician, “ I don’t want to have sex with him but I want the job offer and recommendations!”
These days you can’t get ahead without doing the wrong thing.
What do you call someone whose job is getting you addicted to drugs?
"Doctor".
Canned heat told the story 55 years ago
I wanna tell you all a story
About this chick I know
They call her Amphetamine Annie
She's always shovelin' snow
I sat her down and told her
I told her crystal clear
"I don't mind you gettin' high
But there's one thing you should fear
Your mind might think it's flyin', baby
On those little pills
But you ought to know it's dyin, 'cause"
(Speed kills)
That is quite the melodrama from the NYT. To be clear, the description of a head filled with sludge or zombification is dead on accurate. That is exactly what it feels like. It is also a reasonably good description of trying to function without coffee, and much like functioning without coffee it sounds way worse than it actually is.
Meanwhile the comments are overcorrecting the other direction. I'm quite happy for the people who don't need medication, but that doesn't make them authorities on the subject. Also, referring the legitimate use of a drug by its street name is a cheap and meaningless shot.
It's quite a bit like watching an intestinal cleanse advocate argue with a breatharian. Something is being discussed, but it isn't quite reality.
Plenty of college students are getting on-demand diagnoses of "adult adhd' to get that extra boost for med school or law school or whatever.
They can get coached for it just like teens get coached on how to get a "dysphoria" dx.
System's been corrupt a long time.
Hint, hint: both amphetamine products and methylphenidate products are relatively short-acting, relatively second-rate anticonvulsants. Hint, hint: many of these folks should be on a REAL anticonvulsant -- at least in low dose several times per day -- for "soft neurologic signs". My experience is that in many rural areas and inner-city areas it is NON-MDs who are prescribing these meds without doing much in-depth evaluation of the patient.
I could be wrong. I could be overstating. Such is my observation.
Newspapers need to report about victims.
If the news can build a victim from a false crisis, then the reporting is even more compelling.
Still no shortage of crystal meth on the west coast, just substitute that. It's the same damn thing anyway. These people will take years to get back to some semblance of normality. Long term speed addiction is no picnic to stop.
it doesn't mean you have ADHD. EVERYONE FEELS MORE FOCUSED ON ADDERALL
Cargo cult science with "benefits".
Mengele mandated through single/central/monopolistic solutions, illicit drugs redistributed without borders, and progressive prices with a multi-trillion dollar industrial complex 20% funded including Medicare/Medicaid/Obamacares.
Still no shortage of crystal meth on the west coast, just substitute that.
Fentanyl, too. Celebration, insurrection, commemoration, and parades.
Throw in a generation of newly diagnosed women with ADHD and we're in crisis mode.
Autism, too, a basket of symptoms for profit, and transgender spectrum disorder with pride lamented by none other than Schumer that Wester civilization is not viable for reason of sexual dysfunction, social contagion, and a wicked solution.
Is the man sludgy because he will always be sludgy without the drug, or is he temporarily sludgy due to withdrawal? It's an important distinction.
An Adderall shortage is probably a blessing. The stuff is dangerous and can cause "emotional blunting" and also the inability to feel empathy.
My 23 year old daughter loves to be diagnosed with something. It's a thing with Generation Z. Through my insurance she gets a doctor to diagnose her with ADHD at 23 years old, and the doctor prescribes her Adderall. She takes it for a few months, but now can't afford the meds even with the insurance coverage. I subsidize her rent, car etc... but I ain't paying for Adderall.
Not after the mistake I made following the the public schools insistence my son be in Ritalin starting in the 3rd grade.
The stuff is nothing more than good old fashioned speed. Black Beauties. Originally "Black Beauties" (Biphetamine 20) were given to soldiers to stay awake in combat. Then they were used as diet pills. Then they became a cheap cocaine alternative.
Good advice: Run around the block a couple of times each day.
And when you want to party, drink beer and smoke pot. Don't drive. And don't drink beer and smoke pot when you are trying to study or work.
That's my prescription. Dr. Gusty Winds (Parody)
These are not descriptions of ADD. They're descriptions of speed withdrawal.
Speed Freaks.. Same as it Ever Was, Same as it Ever WAS
Serious Question
Of ALL the trans kids (and trans adults) out there.. Are there ANY? That aren't already on prescription meds? Isn't THAT, their Problem?
“The Bankman fried crime has seemingly exposed the issue that tech people take prescription speed to let them outperform those who don’t take it. How horrible is that! It’s hard for students to do class work, but now kids have to say, if I don’t take adderal I won’t be competitive on the curve and won’t get an A. Take speed before you take the sat.”
Major League Baseball had the same problem with steroids. Stars who used got all the attention, but many marginal players felt compelled to use just to keep their jobs, especially when recovering from injuries.
"it is NON-MDs who are prescribing these meds"
Yup, nurse practitioners got a real cash cow with this trade. Prescribing power, and not very rigorous training. And very little if any experience.
Add in telemed - ka-ching!
from my experience of Adult ADD taking methylphenidate for about 1 year:
yes, a "normal" person taking speed will function x% better (lets say 25%).
but a ADD person who operates at a minus 25%, will operate at the same level of the "normal" person on speed (a 50% improvement).
What I found after a while, I was getting PISSED OFF!!!! big time of all the "normal" people not functioning up to the "normal" level.
I am no longer medicating.
I realized that I had ADHD in my forties following the diagnosis of a child. I started medication. It was like putting on a pair of glasses for the first time. I am sure that there are some people who abuse the drug and some people who obtain prescriptions who do not need the drug. Nevertheless, those of you who are scoffing at people who are suffering remind me of my mother. My mother always had 20/20 vision. She was upset when at ten, the eye doctor said I needed glasses. My mother did not like that and she constantly was nagging me to leave my glasses off unless I was in the classroom. When I returned to the doctor the next year for my annual checkup, I overhead my mother complaining to the doctor that I wanted to wear the glasses all the time. The doctor replied :"that is because she can see when she's wearing the glasses and she can't see when she is not wearing them. She likes being able to see" My mother seemed genuinely shocked by his response apparently not having realized that wearing glasses improved the quality of my life everywhere, not just in the classroom. ADHD exists and treatment makes a major difference in the lives of people who are affected. The shortage is not funny.
30% Of the national supply is being used to keep Joe Biden up and runnin.
For years I was on Ritalin and Xanax at the same time thanks to my now retired doc. Withdrawal from 10mg of Ritalin a day wasn't too bad. Quitting Xanax is way harder. I've taken 30mg a day for over a decade and if I miss a single day it's bad, if I miss two days in a row I'm almost catatonic. New doc says try to taper off it. Right. I tried to taper off, it didn't work. Protracted Xanax withdrawal can last for 12 months or more and I'm not ready for that. I need to find a new doc and try again.
Too much Adderall... and now there's a giant toothbrush at the end of town.
The medical establishment has taken all the little hangups and quirks we used to just put up with and assigned a disorder, a billing code and a prescription.
You want it, you got it!
The old bumper sticker: "Reality is for people who can't handle drugs."
I worked emergency psych for forty years. I have seen Adderall rescue lives and ruin them. Anyone who takes only one side of this argument doesn't know what they are talking about.
In grad school, about 20 years ago, I did a deep dive into ADHD for a Special Education class I was taking.
At that time, some very large percentage of ALL ADHD cases worldwide were being diagnosed in the US. I think it might have been as high as 75%.
I knew, online, a special ed teacher in Sweden at the time and she helped me with a lot of info on how it was treated there.
My recollection is the school (social worker? Nurse? Psychologist?) would identify a student who might have ADHD. That student would be referred to a special doctor trained to potentially identify, but not actually diagnose it. A 2nd opinion from one of only a few specialist doctors in the country was required to formally diagnose it.
If that doctor recommended medication, such as Addreral, the prescription had to be approved by the national minister of health.
Needless to say, Sweden had a very low rate of ADHD. The normal remedy was at the school level "SIDDOWN AND SHADDUP!!!"
That's what it was in the 50s and 60s when I was in school. I suspect that I have fairly severe ADHD based on my readings of it. I've managed to live with it and adopted my lifestyle, especially since I quit my last job in 1985 to accommodate it. I seldom do the same thing long enough to lose interest.
I have no desire to be diagnosed and even less desire to be treated for it.
John Henry
In the mid 60s, when I had some expertise in it, Bi-phetamine, black beauties were the drug of choice for uppers. Not much different from snorting meth but we knew (or thought we did) that the black beauties were pharmaceuticaly pure. The triangular dextratramphetamine tablets were pretty good.
Benzedrine was also OK and, up until sometime in 66, at least in California were still legal. You could buy rolls of tablets over the counter at gas stations and truck stops for a buck or two.
I don't remember hearing about black beauties in the Navy while I was in. Flight crews were still being given benzedrine in the early 70s.
Me, I was black gang down in the hole (engine room) We had to make do with copious amounts of 120 weight coffee.
John Henry
It was like putting on a pair of glasses for the first time.
Had they been around back when eyeglasses were first invented, many of our commenters would be saying the same thing about them.
"They're putting glasses on everybody who squints nowadays!"
"Just let people see the way nature intended them to see!"
"Big Opto is making big bucks!"
Sit down, face forward and quit talking.
CHMCM, amen. My younger son went on ADHD meds at 17 (not Adderall but similar) and it was life-changing. He went through 6 hours of (really expensive) testing before being diagnosed with inattention ADHD; we wanted to make sure that was what he had, and every test showed the same result - deficits in processing speed and word retrieval. Before the testing, as part of the justification for getting him to do it, we told him we thought he was missing about 25% of every class. He disagreed and fought with us about it, and less than a week on the medication he said "wow, I was missing like 25% of every class - this stuff is a lot more interesting now". We always suspected he had ADHD (he was speech-delayed and had huge sensory issues, and this stuff usually goes together) but we waited to have him tested when it started impacting his grades (that was our criteria - good grades and friends, decent behavior in class? then no diagnosis). I am so glad we waited and he had a normal elementary and middle school experience, but I'm also so glad he has the meds he needs now. He's been without them occasionally, and it doesn't go well. I have sympathy for the people now who are unable to get the meds they need.
The indispensable Scott Alexander writes Drug users use a lot of drugs where he notes that people who are meth addicts take about 500mg per day. A psychiatric dose is usually between 10 and 40mg.
Someone getting treated for depression with ketamine will get about 280mg in a month. Someone who parties with ketamine every day will get about 90,000mg in a month.
I suspect SBF and his crew were using a lot more than 40 mg/day.
TR probably had ADHD, he drank a gallon of coffee (heavily laced w cream and sugar) per day.
sorry to be a stuck record.. But y'all are at it, AGAIN
issue: WAY Too Many People are using (and abusing) Speed
althouse reader: THIS IS A TOTAL LIE!! MY DAUGHTER USES SPEED, AND IT'S HELPED HER!!
There is more than a little tinge of threat in the they/them woman(?) who claims to be worried that without adderol she "might" forget to prep people properly for MRI machines and they could get burned. Or she "might" cause a traffic accident.
Would you feel comfortable having this person performing potentially dangerous medical procedures on you? Or driving near you? HR "might" spend less time on pronoun patrol and more time on baseline sanity patrol.
The lawsuit deposition writes itself: what was it you said in the Times?
Ha! Look at this excerpt from a Linkedin notice I just received minutes ago: "... the hashtag #ADHD was the 7th most popular health-related hashtag on TikTok, more than half of the popular ADHD-related videos were misleading, and only a small percentage were created by healthcare professionals ...."
I stand by what I said in a post above on this thread: that many folks are taking an amphetamine product or a methylphenidate product when they really should be taking a non-addictive real anticonvulsant for their neurologic disorder. Many of these folks do not need to be "stimulated"; they need to have "busy brain UN-stimulated, calmed down.
But, hey, the currently most popular brand-name ADHD amphetamine med costs about $500 per month, while most real anticonvulsant meds are generic and costing way less than that.
I really hate keying in a post and then having it disappear. When will I learn that, on this blog, one has to save a copy off-line before hitting "send"?
the tired old "it's like glasses" trope makes its usual appearance
it's not like glasses
the tired old "it's like glasses" trope makes its usual appearance
it's not like glasses
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